Search results for: point estimation

Authors: Mengping Cheng, John Everatt, Alison Arrow, Amanda Denston

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Based on the available evidence, Chinese heritage language learners have a basic level of Chinese language proficiency with lower capability in literacy compared to speaking. Low levels of literacy are likely related to the lack of reading activities in current textbook-based pedagogy used in Chinese community schools. The present study aims to use Reading to Learn pedagogy which is a top-down language learning model and test the effectiveness of Reading to Learn on Chinese heritage learners’ written vocabulary acquisition. A quasi-experiment with the pre-test/post-test non-equivalent group design was conducted. The experimental group received Reading to Learn instructions and the control group had traditional textbook-based instructions. Participants were given Chinese characters tasks (a recognize-and-read task and a listen-and-point task), vocabulary tasks (a receptive vocabulary task and a productive vocabulary task) and a sentence cloze test in pre-tests and post-tests. Data collection is in progress and results will be available shortly. If the results show more improvement of Chinese written vocabulary in the experimental group than in the control group, it will be recommended that Reading to Learn pedagogy is valuable to be used to maintain and develop Chinese heritage language literacy.

Keywords: Chinese heritage language, experimental research, Reading to Learn pedagogy, vocabulary acquisition

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Authors: Abbas Ghahremani

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One of the most fundamental management issues in organizations and companies is the recruiting of efficient staff and compiling exact and perfect criteria for testing the applicants,which is guided and practiced by the manager of human resources of the organization. Obviously, each part of the organization seeks special features and abilities in the people apart from common features among all the staff in all units,which are called principal duties and abilities,and we will study them more. This article is trying to find out how we can identify the most efficient people among the applicants of employment by using proper methods of testing appropriate for the needs of different of employment by using proper methods of testing appropriate for the needs of different units of the organization and recruit efficient staff. Acceptable method for recruiting is to closely identify their characters from various aspects such as ability to communicate, flexibility, stress management, risk acceptance, tolerance, vision to future, familiarity with the art, amount of creativity and different thinking and by raising proper questions related with the above named features and presenting a questionnaire, evaluate them from various aspect in order to gain the proper result. According to the above explanations, it can be concluded which aspects of abilities and characteristics of a person must be evaluated in order to reduce any mistake in recruitment and approach an ideal result and ultimately gain an organized system according to the standards and avoid waste of energy for unprofessional personnel which is a marginal issue in the organizations.

Keywords: human resources management, staff recuiting, employment factors, efficient staff

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Authors: Y. Ghiassi-Farrokhfal

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The number of electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing worldwide. Replacing gas fueled cars with EVs reduces carbon emission. However, the extensive energy consumption of EVs stresses the energy systems, requiring non-green sources of energy (such as gas turbines) to compensate for the new energy demand caused by EVs in the energy systems. To make EVs even a greener solution for the future energy systems, new EV charging stations are equipped with solar PV panels and batteries. This will help serve the energy demand of EVs through the green energy of solar panels. To ensure energy availability, solar panels are combined with batteries. The energy surplus at any point is stored in batteries and is used when there is not enough solar energy to serve the demand. While EV charging stations equipped with solar panels and batteries are green and ecologically optimal, they might not be financially viable solutions, due to battery prices. To make the system viable, we should size the battery economically and operate the system optimally. This is, in general, a challenging problem because of the stochastic nature of the EV arrivals at the charging station, the available solar energy, and the battery operating system. In this work, we provide a mathematical model for this problem and we compute the return on investment (ROI) of such a system, which is designed to be ecologically and financially optimal. We also quantify the minimum required investment in terms of battery and solar panels along with the operating strategy to ensure that a charging station has enough energy to serve its EV demand at any time.

Keywords: solar energy, battery storage, electric vehicle, charging stations

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Authors: Elizabeth Chinyere Amadi

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Yeast (sacchoromyces cerevisiae) was isolated from the fermenting sap of raffia palm (Raphia hookeri) wine. Different concerntrations of the yeast isolate were used to produce bread samples – B, C, D, E, F containing (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) g of yeast isolate respectively, other ingredients were kept constant. Sample A, containing 2g of commercial baker yeast served as control. The proof heights, weights, volumes and specific volume of the dough and bread samples were determined. The bread samples were also subjected to sensory evaluation using a 9–point hedonic scale. Results showed that proof height increased with increased concentration of the yeast isolate; that is direct proportion. Sample B with the least concentration of the yeast isolate had the least loaf height and volume of 2.80c m and 200 cm³ respectively but exhibited the highest loaf weight of 205.50g. However, Sample A, (commercial bakers’ yeast) had the highest loaf height and volume of 5.00 cm and 400 cm³ respectively. The sensory evaluation results showed sample D compared favorably with sample A in all the organoleptic attributes-(appearance, taste, crumb texture, crust colour and overall acceptability) tested for (P< 0.05). It was recommended that 4g compressed yeast isolate per 100g flour could be used to proof dough as a substitute for commercial bakers’ yeast and produce acceptable bread loaves.

Keywords: isolation of yeast, performance evaluation of yeast, Raffia palm wine, used at different concentrations, proofing of bread dough

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Authors: Piyush Hajela

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Public spaces within Indian markets are vibrant, colorful and contain dimensions that make them attractive and therefore act as popular gathering spaces. Most of these public spaces emerge as squares, plazas of varied shapes and sizes spread at different locations within the market. These public spaces grow organically and are discovered by the people themselves as they respond positively to the collective human senses. On the other hand, there are the planned and designed public spaces as well that are less active. This research evaluates both the planned and the organically transformed public spaces in Indian markets from an Urban Design point of view. The purpose of such research is to provide a basis for design solutions to ensure the success of designed public spaces. The evaluation is done for identified Attributes, namely Comfort, Protection, Familiarity, Activities, Form, Legibility, Engagement, Safety, Accessibility, Environment and Transformations by which a Public Space attains its recognition. The evaluation is based on a rating done for forty-four parameters falling under eleven attributes of public space. An opinion survey of professionals is conducted for their priorities of attributes while designing Public spaces. A comparison is made to rank these attributes between Planned and Organically transformed Public spaces and, opinion of the professionals. After dues analysis, the research suggests the learning from the organically transformed Public spaces for ensuring the success of designed public spaces. The suggestions may be in the form of Design decisions or administrative regulations, or both for achieving the desirables.

Keywords: assessment, attributes, engagement, interaction

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Authors: Angela Fabris, Joerg Helbig

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Our paper deals with feature films set in Venice which focus on the influence of Italian life style on anglophone characters. Usually, these films emphasize the different cultures and mentalities of Italian and British (or American) people. More often than not, these encounters result in a profound change of the anglophone characters' attitude towards romance and sensuality. A case in point is David Lean's Summer Madness (UK 1955). This film recounts the love affair between the American tourist Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn) and the Venetian antique shop owner Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi). Jane is a spinster in her mid-forties who longs for love and romance. The chance arrives when she meets Renato who feels attracted to her. Jane's immediate reaction, however, is to reject Renato's advances. What follows is a struggle between the strict morality of a puritan upbringing and the irresitable charm of Mediterranean temptations. Similar conflicts can be found in many other movies. Apart from Summer Madness we will discuss Aldo Lado's Chi l'ha vista morire? (It 1972), Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (UK/It 1973) and Paul Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers (It/UK/USA 1990). Our paper raises the question whether or not these and other films present false stereotypes and chlichés. The paper is part of our large-scale research project which explores the history of erotic cinema in Italy and England.

Keywords: culture clash, erotic cinema, film, Venice

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Authors: L. F. Tamele Jr., G. Buonocore, H. F. Muiambo

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Asphalt binders play an essential role in the performance and properties of asphalt mixtures. The increase in heavy loads, greater traffic volume, and high tire pressure, combined with a substantial variation in daily and seasonal pavement temperatures, are the main responsible for the failure of asphalt pavements. To avoid or mitigate these failures, the present research proposes the use of thermoplastic polymers, HDPE and LLDPE, and nanoclay Dellite 43B for modification of asphalt in order to improve its thermomechanical and rheological properties. The nanocomposites were prepared by the solution intercalation method in a high shear mixer for a mixing time of 2 h, at 180℃ and 5000 rpm. The addition of Dellite 43B improved the physical, rheological, and thermal properties of asphalt, either separated or in the form of polymer/bitumen blends. The results of the physical characterization showed a decrease in penetration and an increase in softening point, thermal susceptibility, viscosity, and stiffness. On the other hand, thermal characterization showed that the nanocomposites have greater stability at higher temperatures by exhibiting greater amounts of residues and improved initial and final decomposition temperatures. Thus, the modification of asphalt by polymers and nanoclays seems to be a suitable solution for road pavement in countries which experiment with high temperatures combined with long heavy rain seasons.

Keywords: asphalt, nanoclay dellite 43B, polymer modified asphalt, thermal and rheological properties

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Authors: Naouel Zoghlami

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Spoken-word recognition involves the simultaneous activation of potential word candidates which compete with each other for final correct recognition. In continuous speech, the activation-competition process gets more complicated due to speech reductions existing at word boundaries. Lexical processing is more difficult in L2 than in L1 because L2 listeners often lack phonetic, lexico-semantic, syntactic, and prosodic knowledge in the target language. In this study, we investigate the on-line lexical segmentation hypotheses that French listeners of L2 English form and then revise as subsequent perceptual evidence is revealed. Our purpose is to shed further light on the processes of L2 spoken-word recognition in context and better understand L2 listening difficulties through a comparison of skilled and unskilled reactions at the point where their working hypothesis is rejected. We use a variant of the gating experiment in which subjects transcribe an English sentence presented in increments of progressively greater duration. The spoken sentence was “And this amazing athlete has just broken another world record”, chosen mainly because it included common reductions and phonetic features in English, such as elision and assimilation. Our preliminary results show that there is an important difference in the manner in which proficient and less-proficient L2 listeners handle connected speech. Less-proficient listeners delay recognition of words as they wait for lexical and syntactic evidence to appear in the gates. Further statistical results are currently being undertaken.

Keywords: gating paradigm, spoken word recognition, online lexical segmentation, L2 listening

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Authors: G. Shiha, S. Seif, W. Samir, K. Zalata

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Prospective Validation of the FibroTest Score in assessing Liver Fibrosis in Hepatitis C Infection with Genotype 4 FibroTest (FT) is non-invasive score of liver fibrosis that combines the quantitative results of 5 serum biochemical markers (alpha-2-macroglobulin, haptoglobin, apolipoprotein A1, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and bilirubin) and adjusted with the patient's age and sex in a patented algorithm to generate a measure of fibrosis. FT has been validated in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (Halfon et al., Gastroenterol. Clin Biol.( 2008), 32 6suppl 1, 22-39). The validation of fibro test ( FT) in genotype IV is not well studied. Our aim was to evaluate the performance of FibroTest in an independent prospective cohort of hepatitis C patients with genotype 4. Subject was 122 patients with CHC. All liver biopsies were scored using METAVIR system. Our fibrosis score(FT) were measured, and the performance of the cut-off score were done using ROC curve. Among patients with advanced fibrosis, the FT was identically matched with the liver biopsy in 18.6%, overestimated the stage of fibrosis in 44.2% and underestimated the stage of fibrosis in 37.7% of cases. Also in patients with no/mild fibrosis, identical matching was detected in 39.2% of cases with overestimation in 48.1% and underestimation in 12.7%. So, the overall results of the test were identical matching, overestimation and underestimation in 32%, 46.7% and 21.3% respectively. Using ROC curve it was found that (FT) at the cut-off point of 0.555 could discriminate early from advanced stages of fibrosis with an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.72, sensitivity of 65%, specificity of 69%, PPV of 68%, NPV of 66% and accuracy of 67%. As FibroTest Score overestimates the stage of advanced fibrosis, it should not be considered as a reliable surrogate for liver biopsy in hepatitis C infection with genotype 4.

Keywords: fibrotest, chronic Hepatitis C, genotype 4, liver biopsy

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Authors: Faris Algahtani

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The current study aimed to reveal the extent to which evidence-based practices are applied in programs to integrate students with intellectual disabilities from the point of view of their teachers in Yanbu Governorate, and to reveal statistically significant differences in their application of evidence-based practices according to the following variables: gender, educational qualification, experience and training courses. The researcher used the descriptive approach, and accordingly; she designed a questionnaire consisting of 22 phrases applied it to a random sample of (97) teachers of intellectual disability in the integration programs of the Ministry of Education in the government sector in Yanbu Governorate, with (49) male teachers and (48) female teachers. The study showed that teachers of students with intellectual disabilities apply evidence-based practices in programs to integrate students with intellectual disabilities to a large extent. Among the most prominent of these practices came reinforcement in the first place, followed by using visual stimuli/aids, and in the third-place came starting with less complex or challenging skills then moving to more difficult skills. The results also showed no statistically significant differences over the extent of the application attributed to the variables of experience, qualification or training. On the other hand, there were statistically significant differences over the extent of the application attributed to gender in favor of females.

Keywords: evidence-based practices, intellectual disability, inclusion programs, teachers of students with intellectual disabilities

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Authors: V. Charaia

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From the strategic point of view, not all Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are always positively benefiting the host economy, i.e. not all Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are promoting local/host economies. FDI could have different impact on different sectors of the economy, based not only on annual investment amount, but MNE motivations and peculiarities of the host economy in particular. FDI analysis based only on its amount can lead to incorrect decisions, it is much more important to understand the essence of investment. Consequently, our research is oriented on MNE’s motivations, answering which sectors are most popular among international investors and why, what motivated them to invest into one or another business. Georgian economy for the last period of time is attracting more and more efficiency seeking investments, which could be translated as - concentrating production in a limited number of locations to supply various markets, while benefiting local economy with: new technologies, employment, exports diversification, increased income for the local economy and so on. Foreign investors and MNEs in particular are no longer and not so much interested in the resource seeking investments, which was the case for Georgia in the last decade of XX century. Despite the fact of huge progress for the Georgian economy, still there is a room for foreign investors to make a local market oriented investments. The local market is still rich in imported products, which should be replaced by local ones. And the last but not the least important issue is that approximately 30% of all FDIs in Georgia according to this research are “efficiency seeking” investments, which is an enormous progress and a hope for future Georgian success.

Keywords: investments, MNE, FDI motivations, Georgian economy

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Authors: T. Garba, Y. Y. Sabo A. Babanyara, K. G. Ilellah, A. K. Mutari

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This study used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and maps compiled from the classification of Landsat TM and Landsat ETM images of 1986 and 1999 respectively and Nigeria sat 1 images of 2007 to quantify changes in land use and land cover in selected areas of Nigeria covering 143,609 hectares that are threatened by the encroaching Sahara desert. The results of this investigation revealed a decrease in natural vegetation over the three time slices (1986, 1999 and 2007) which was characterised by an increase in high positive pixel values from 0.04 in 1986 to 0.22 and 0.32 in 1999 and 2007 respectively and, a decrease in natural vegetation from 74,411.60ha in 1986 to 28,591.93ha and 21,819.19ha in 1999 and 2007 respectively. The same results also revealed a periodic trend in which there was progressive increase in the cultivated area from 60,191.87ha in 1986 to 104,376.07ha in 1999 and a terminal decrease to 88,868.31ha in 2007. These findings point to expansion of vegetated and cultivated areas in in the initial period between 1988 and 1996 and reversal of these increases in the terminal period between 1988 and 1996. The study also revealed progressive expansion of built-up areas from 1, 681.68ha in 1986 to 2,661.82ha in 1999 and to 3,765.35ha in 2007. These results argue for the urgent need to protect and conserve the depleting natural vegetation by adopting sustainable human resource use practices i.e. intensive farming in order to minimize persistent depletion of natural vegetation.

Keywords: changes, classification, desertification, vegetation changes

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Authors: Mahdi Sadeghian, Somaye Sadeghian, Reza Dinarvand

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This paper is going to discuss two issues encountered in using PLAXIS. Both issues were monitored during application of PLAXIS to estimate the excavation-induced displacement. Column Soil Mixing (CSM) was applied to stabilise the excavation. It was understood that the estimated excavation induced deformation at the top of the CSM blocks highly depends on the material type defining pavement material adjacent to the CSM blocks. Cohesive material for pavement will result in the unrealistic connection between pavement and CSM even by defining an interface element. To find the most realistic approach, the interface defined in three different manners (1) no interface elements were applied (2) a non-cohesive soil layer was defined between pavement and CSM block to represent the friction between these materials (3) built-in interface elements in PLAXIS was used to define the boundary between the pavement and the CSM block. The result showed that the option 2 would result in more realistic results. The second issue was in the modelling of the contact line between the CSM block and an inclined layer underneath. The analysis result showed that the excavation-induced deformation highly depends on how the PLAXIS user defines the contact area. It was understood that if the contact area had defined as a point in which CSM block had intersected the layer underneath the estimated lateral displacement of CSM block would be unrealistically lower than the model in which the contact area was defined as a line.

Keywords: PLAXIS, FEM, CSM, Excavation-Induced Deformation

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Authors: Eirini Krasaki

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This paper addresses the problem of designing spaces in a consistently changing environment. Space is considered as a totality of forces that coexist in the same place. Forces form the identity of space and characterize the entities that coexist within the same totality. Interior space is considered as a totality of forces which develop within an envelope. This research focuses on the formation of the tripole space-forces-totality and studies the relation of this tripole to the interior space. The point of departure for this investigation has been set the historic center of Athens, a city center where the majority of building mass is unused. The objective of the study is to connect the development of interior spaces to the alterations of the conceptions that form the built environment. The research focuses on Evripidou street, an axis around which expand both commercial and residential centers. Along Evripidou street, three case studies elaborate: a) In case study 01, Evripidou street is examined as a megastructure in which totalities of interior spaces develop. b) In case study 02, a particular group of entities (polykatoikia) that expand in Evripidou street is investigated. c) In case study 03, a particular group of entities (apartment) that derives from a specific envelope is investigated. Throughout the studies and comparisons of different scales, a design methodology that addresses the design of interior space in relation to the dynamics of the built environment is evolved.

Keywords: methodology, research by design, interior, envelope, dynamics

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Authors: Mirela-Gabriela Bratu

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The main objective of this study is to highlight the way in which emotions are constructed discursively in the French written press, more particularly in the titles of informative articles. To achieve this objective, we will begin the study with the theoretical part, which aims to capture the characteristics of journalistic discourse, to which we will add clues of emotions that we will identify in the titles of the articles. The approach is based on the empirical results from the analysis of the articles published on the earthquake that took place on August 24, 2016, in Italy, as described by two French national daily newspapers: Le Monde and Le Point. The corpus submitted to the analysis contains thirty-seven titles, published between August 24, 2016, and August 24, 2017. If the textual content of the speech offers information respecting the grammatical standards and following the presentation conventions, the choice of words can touch the reader, so the journalist must add other means than mastering of the language to create emotion. This study aims to highlight the strategies, such as rhetorical figures, the tenses, or factual data, used by journalists to create emotions for the readers. We also try, thanks to the study of the articles which were published for several days relating to the same event, to emphasize whether we can speak or not of the dissipation of emotion and the catastrophic side as the event fades away in time. The theoretical framework is offered by works on rhetorical strategies (Perelman, 1992; Amossi, 2000; Charaudeau, 2000) and on the study of emotions (Plantin, 1997, 1998, 2004; Tetu, 2004).

Keywords: disaster, earthquake, emotion, feeling

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Authors: Jeansou Moun

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This study argues that constructivism and structuralism, which have been the two important schools of mathematical philosophy since the mid-19th century, can and should be synthesized into structure-constructivism. In fact, the philosophy of mathematics is divided into more than ten schools depending on the point of view. However, the biggest trend is Platonism which claims that mathematical objects are "abstract entities" that exists independently of the human mind and material objects. Its opposite is constructivism. According to the latter, mathematical objects are products of the construction of the human mind. However, whether the basis of the construction is a logical device, a symbolic system, or an empirical perception, it is subdivided into logicism, formalism, and intuitionism. However, these three schools themselves are further subdivided into various variants, and among them, structuralism, which emerged in the mid-20th century, is receiving the most attention. On the other hand, structuralism which emphasizes structure instead of individual objects, is divided into non-eliminative structuralism, which supports the a priori of structure, and non-eliminative structuralism, which rejects any abstract entity. In this context, it is believed that the structure itself is not an a priori entity but a result of the construction of the cognitive subject and that no object has ever been given to us in its full meaning from the outset. In other words, concepts are progressively structured through a dialectical cycle between sensory perception, imagination (abstraction), concepts, judgments, and reasoning. Symbols are needed for formal operation. However, without concrete manipulation, the formal operation cannot have any meaning. However, when formal structurization is achieved, the reality (object) itself is also newly structured. This is the "structure-constructivism".

Keywords: philosophy of mathematics, platonism, logicism, formalism, constructivism, structuralism, structure-constructivism

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Authors: A. Douka, S. Vouyiouka, L. M. Papaspyridi, D. Korres, C. Papaspyrides

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A "green" process was studied for the preparation of partially renewable aliphatic polyesters based on 1,4-butanediol and 1,8-octanediol with various diacids and derivatives, namely diethyl succinate, adipic acid, sebacic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid and 1,14-tetradecanedioic acid. A first step of enzymatic prepolymerization was carried out in the presence of two different solvents, toluene and diphenylether, applying molecular sieves and vacuum, respectively, to remove polycondensation by-products. Poly(octylene adipate) (PE 8.6), poly(octylene dodecanate)(PE 8.12) and poly(octylene tetradecanate) (PE 8.14) were firstly enzymatically produced in toluene using molecular sieves giving however, low-molecular-weight products. Thereafter, the synthesis of PE 8.12 and PE 8.14 was examined under optimized conditions using diphenylether as solvent and a more vigorous by-product removal step, such as application of vacuum. Apart from these polyesters, the optimized process was also implemented for the production of another long-chain polyester-poly(octylene sebacate) (PE 8.10) and a short-chain polyester-poly(butylene succinate) (PE 4.4). Subsequently, bulk post-polymerization in the melt or solid state was performed. SSP runs involved absence of biocatalyst and reaction temperatures (T) in the vicinity of the prepolymer melting point (Tm-T varied between 15.5 up to 4oC). Focusing on PE 4.4 and PE 8.12, SSP took place under vacuum or flowing nitrogen leading to increase of the molecular weight and improvement of the end product physical appearance and thermal properties.

Keywords: aliphatic polyester, enzymatic polymerization, solid state polymerization, Novozym 435

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Authors: Reza Rezaeipour Honarmandzad

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This paper introduces an aircraft cable fault detection and location method in light of TFDR keeping in mind the end goal to recognize the intermittent faults adequately and to adapt to the serial and after-connector issues being hard to be distinguished in time domain reflection. In this strategy, the correlation function of reflected and reference signal is used to recognize and find the airplane fault as per the qualities of reflected and reference signal in time-frequency domain, so the hit rate of distinguishing and finding intermittent faults can be enhanced adequately. In the work process, the reflected signal is interfered by the noise and false caution happens frequently, so the threshold de-noising technique in light of wavelet decomposition is used to diminish the noise interference and lessen the shortcoming alert rate. At that point the time-frequency cross connection capacity of the reference signal and the reflected signal based on Wigner-Ville appropriation is figured so as to find the issue position. Finally, LabVIEW is connected to execute operation and control interface, the primary capacity of which is to connect and control MATLAB and LABSQL. Using the solid computing capacity and the bottomless capacity library of MATLAB, the signal processing turn to be effortlessly acknowledged, in addition LabVIEW help the framework to be more dependable and upgraded effectively.

Keywords: aircraft cable, fault location, TFDR, LabVIEW

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Authors: Sandip Shrestha, Ann M. Donoghue, Komala Arsi, Basanta R. Wagle, Abhinav Upadhyay, Dan J. Donoghue

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Campylobacter, one of the major cause of foodborne illness worldwide, is commonly present in the intestinal tract of poultry. Many strategies are currently being investigated to reduce Campylobacter counts on commercial poultry during processing with limited success. This study investigated the efficacy of the generally recognized as safe compound, carvacrol (CR), a component of wild oregano oil as a wash treatment for reducing C. jejuni and aerobic bacteria on chicken skin. A total of two trials were conducted, and in each trial, a total of 75 skin samples (4cm × 4cm each) were randomly allocated into 5 treatment groups (0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% CR). Skin samples were inoculated with a cocktail of four wild strains of C. jejuni (~ 8 log10 CFU/skin). After 30 min of attachment, inoculated skin samples were dipped in the respective treatment solution for 1 min, allowed to drip dry for 2 min and processed at 0, 8, 24 h post treatment for enumeration of C. jejuni and aerobic bacterial counts (n=5/treatment/time point). The data were analyzed by ANOVA using PROC GLM procedure of SAS 9.3. All the tested doses of CR suspension consistently reduced C. jejuni counts across all time points. The 2% CR wash was the most effective treatment and reduced C. jejuni counts by ~4 log₁₀ CFU/sample (P < 0.05). Aerobic counts were reduced for the 0.5% CR dose at 0 and 24h in Trial 1 and at 0, 8 and 24h in Trial 2. The 1 and 2% CR doses consistently reduced aerobic counts in both trials up to 2 log₁₀ CFU/skin.

Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni, carvcrol, chicken skin, postharvest

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Authors: Nora Mohammed Rehan Hussien

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Cities all over the world face daunting urban challenges that have increased in scope in recent years. The biggest challenge includes issues of urban planning, housing, safety aspects, scarcity of land for development and traffic congestion. So every city in the world aspires to adopt the strategy of ‘Livable City’ which guarantees the cities urbanization manner that preserves the environment, and achieve the greatest benefit from the resources and achieve a good standard of living. Essentially, a livable city should possess basic yet unique attributes to welcome people from all strata of society without marginalizing any particular group. Most of these cities began to move towards sustainability and livability to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resources consumption, to engage more affectivity and actively with its citizens, and to describe the quality of life and the characteristics of cities that make them livable. From here came the idea of the research which is creating ‘A framework of livable and sustainable city’ as a sustainable approach that must follow to achieve the principle of sustainable livability. From this point of view the research deals with one of the most successful case studies all over the world in’ livable cities system’ (Vienna) to know how to explore and understand the issues and challenges in becoming a full- livable and creative city through analyzing the criteria, principles and strategy of livable city then deducing the framework towards this concept. Finally, it suggests a set of recommendations help for applying the concept of livable city.

Keywords: quality of life, livability & livable city, sustainability, sustainable city

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Authors: Simon Guerin-Marthe, Marie Violay

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Thermal Pressurization (TP) has been proposed as a key mechanism involved in the weakening of faults during dynamic ruptures. Theoretical and numerical studies clearly show how frictional heating can lead to an increase in pore fluid pressure due to the rapid slip along faults occurring during earthquakes. In addition, recent laboratory studies have evidenced local pore pressure or local temperature variation during rotary shear tests, which are consistent with TP theoretical and numerical models. The aim of this study is to complement previous ones by measuring both local pore pressure and local temperature variations in the vicinity of a water-saturated calcite gouge layer subjected to a controlled slip velocity in direct double shear configuration. Laboratory investigation of TP process is crucial in order to understand the conditions at which it is likely to become a dominant mechanism controlling dynamic friction. It is also important in order to understand the timing and magnitude of temperature and pore pressure variations, to help understanding when it is negligible, and how it competes with other rather strengthening-mechanisms such as dilatancy, which can occur during rock failure. Here we present unique direct measurements of temperature and pressure variations during high-speed friction experiments under various load point velocities and show the timing of these variations relatively to the slip event.

Keywords: thermal pressurization, double-shear test, high-speed friction, dilatancy

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Authors: P. Byrnes, F. A. DiazDelaO

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The Support Vector Machine (SVM) has become widely recognised as one of the leading algorithms in machine learning for both regression and binary classification. It expresses predictions in terms of a linear combination of kernel functions, referred to as support vectors. Despite its popularity amongst practitioners, SVM has some limitations, with the most significant being the generation of point prediction as opposed to predictive distributions. Stemming from this issue, a probabilistic model namely, Probabilistic Classification Vector Machines (PCVM), has been proposed which respects the original functional form of SVM whilst also providing a predictive distribution. As physical system designs become more complex, an increasing number of classification tasks involving industrial applications consist of more than two classes. Consequently, this research proposes a framework which allows for the extension of PCVM to a multi class setting. Additionally, the original PCVM framework relies on the use of type II maximum likelihood to provide estimates for both the kernel hyperparameters and model evidence. In a high dimensional multi class setting, however, this approach has been shown to be ineffective due to bad scaling as the number of classes increases. Accordingly, we propose the application of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) based methods to provide a posterior distribution over both parameters and hyperparameters. The proposed framework will be validated against current multi class classifiers through synthetic and real life implementations.

Keywords: probabilistic classification vector machines, multi class classification, MCMC, support vector machines

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Authors: Ivan Samokhin

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A new two-factor model of school students’ capacity levels is proposed. It considers the academic productivity and emotional condition of children taking part in the study process. Each basic level reflects the correlation of these two factors. The teacher decides whether the required result is achieved or not and write down the grade (from 'A' to 'F') in the register. During the term, the teacher can estimate the students’ progress with any intervals, but it is not desirable to exceed a two-week period (with primary school being an exception). Each boy or girl should have a special notebook to record the emotions which they feel studying a subject. The children can make their notes the way they like it – for example, using a ten-point scale or a short verbal description. It is recommended to record the emotions twice a day: after the lesson and after doing the homework. Before the students start doing this, they should be instructed by a school psychologist, who has to emphasize that an attitude to the subject – not to a person in charge of it – is relevant. At the end of the term, the notebooks are given to the teacher, who is now able to make preliminary conclusions about academic results and psychological comfort of each student. If necessary, some pedagogical measures can be taken. The data about a supposed capacity level is available for the teacher and the school administration. In certain cases, this information can be also revealed to the student’s parents, while the student learns it only after receiving a school-leaving certificate (until this moment, the results are not considered ultimate). Then a person may take these data into consideration when choosing his/her future area of higher education. We single out four main capacity levels: 'nominally low', 'inclination', 'ability' and 'gift'.

Keywords: academic productivity, capacity level, emotional condition, school students

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Authors: Mei Lin, Lana Yj Liu, Thin Ngoc Pham

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Postgraduate taught (PGT) students’ learning strategies align with what the learning task constitutes and the environment that the task creates. Cognitively, they can discover new perspectives, challenge general assumptions, establish clear connections, and synthesise information. Metacognitively, their engagement is conducive to the development of planning, monitoring, and evaluating strategies. Given that there has been a lack of longitudinal insights into international PGT students’ experiences of the cognitive and metacognitive space created in the tasks, this paper presentation aims to fill the gaps by longitudinally exploring (1) the fundamentals of task designs to create cognitive and metacognitive space and (2) the opportunities and challenges of multicultural group discussions as a pedagogical approach for the implementation of cognitive and metacognitive space in the learning tasks. Data were collected from the two rounds of semi-structured interviews with 11 international PGT students in two programmes at a UK university -at the end of semester one and at the end of semester two. The findings show that the task designs, to create cognitive and metacognitive space, need to include four interconnected factors: clarity, relevance, motivation, and practicality. In addition, international PGT students perceived that they practised and developed their cognitive and metacognitive abilities while getting immersed in multicultural group discussions. The findings, from the learners’ point of view, make some pedagogy-related suggestions to the task designs at the master’s level, particularly how to engage students in learning during their transition into higher education in a different cultural setting.

Keywords: cognitive space, master students, metacognitive space, task design

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Authors: Abdulrazaq Yahaya, Omobola Okoh, Anthony Okoh

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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are generated from short emission or leakage from capacitors and electrical transformers, industrial chemicals wastewater discharge and careless disposal of wastes. They are toxic, semi-volatile compounds which can persist in the environment, hence classified as persistent organic pollutants. Their presence in the environmental matrices has become a global concern. In this study, we assessed the concentrations and distribution patterns of 19 polychlorinated biphenyls congeners (PCB 1, 5, 18, 31, 44, 52, 66, 87, 101, 110, 138, 141, 151, 153, 170, 180, 183, 187, and 206) at six sampling points in water along the course of Buffalo River, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Solvent extraction followed by sulphuric acid, potassium permanganate and silica gel cleanup were used in this study. The analysis was done with gas chromatography electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The results of the analysis of all the 19 PCBs congeners ranged from not detectable to 0.52 ppb and 2.5 ppb during summer and autumn periods respectively. These values are generally higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) maximum permissible limit. Their presence in the waterbody suggests an increase in anthropogenic activities over the seasons. In view of their volatility, the compounds are transportable over long distances by air currents away from their point of origin putting the health of the communities at risk, thus suggesting the need for strict regulations on the use as well as save disposal of this group of compounds in the communities.

Keywords: organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls, pollution, solvent extraction

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Authors: Muhasin Koyiloth, Sathyanarayana N. Gummadi

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Biological membranes are ordered association of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates. Lipids except sterols possess asymmetric distribution across the bilayer. Eukaryotic membranes possess a group of lipid translocators called scramblases that disrupt phospholipid asymmetry. Their action is implicated in cell activation during wound healing and phagocytic clearance of apoptotic cells. Cholesterol is one of the major membrane lipids distributed evenly on both the leaflet and can directly influence the membrane fluidity through the ordering effect. The fluidity has an impact on the activity of several membrane proteins. The palmitoylated phospholipid scramblases localized to the lipid raft which is characterized by a higher number of sterols. Here we propose that cholesterol can interact with scramblases through putative CRAC motif and can modulate their activity. To prove this, we reconstituted phospholipid scramblase 1 of C. elegans (SCRM-1) in proteoliposomes containing different amounts of cholesterol (Liquid ordered/Lo). We noted that the presence of cholesterol reduced the scramblase activity of wild-type SCRM-1. The interaction between SCRM-1 and cholesterol was confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy using NBD-Chol. Also, we observed loss of such interaction when one of I273 in the CRAC motif mutated to Asp. Interestingly, the point mutant has partially retained scramblase activity in Lo vesicles. The current study elucidated the important interaction between cholesterol and SCRM-1 to fine-tune its activity in artificial membranes.

Keywords: artificial membranes, CRAC motif, plasma membrane, PL scramblase

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Authors: Jean-Francois Rajotte, Martin Sotir, Frank Gouineau

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The installation and management of traffic monitoring devices can be costly from both a financial and resource point of view. It is therefore important to take advantage of in-place infrastructures to extract the most information. Here we show how low-quality urban road traffic images from cameras already available in many cities (such as Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto) can be used to estimate traffic flow. To this end, we use a pre-trained neural network, developed for object detection, to count vehicles within images. We then compare the results with human annotations gathered through crowdsourcing campaigns. We use this comparison to assess performance and calibrate the neural network annotations. As a use case, we consider six months of continuous monitoring over hundreds of cameras installed in the city of Montreal. We compare the results with city-provided manual traffic counting performed in similar conditions at the same location. The good performance of our system allows us to consider applications which can monitor the traffic conditions in near real-time, making the counting usable for traffic-related services. Furthermore, the resulting annotations pave the way for building a historical vehicle counting dataset to be used for analysing the impact of road traffic on many city-related issues, such as urban planning, security, and pollution.

Keywords: traffic monitoring, deep learning, image annotation, vehicles, roads, artificial intelligence, real-time systems

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Authors: David Calderon Villegas, Thomas Kaltizky

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Run-of-river (RoR) hydropower projects represent a viable, clean, and cost-effective alternative to dam-based plants and provide decentralized power production. However, RoR schemes cost-effectiveness depends on the proper selection of site and design flow, which is a challenging task because it requires multivariate analysis. In this respect, this study presents the development of an investment decision support tool for assessing the optimal size of an RoR scheme considering the technical, environmental, and cost constraints. The net present value (NPV) from a project perspective is used as an objective function for supporting the investment decision. The tool has been tested by applying it to an actual RoR project recently proposed in Colombia. The obtained results show that the optimum point in financial terms does not match the flow that maximizes energy generation from exploiting the river's available flow. For the case study, the flow that maximizes energy corresponds to a value of 5.1 m3/s. In comparison, an amount of 2.1 m3/s maximizes the investors NPV. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the NPV as a function of the debt rate changes and the electricity prices and the CapEx. Even for the worst-case scenario, the optimal size represents a positive business case with an NPV of 2.2 USD million and an IRR 1.5 times higher than the discount rate.

Keywords: small hydropower, renewable energy, RoR schemes, optimal sizing, objective function

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Nosakhare Ikponmwosa, Rogers A. Akinsokeji

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For many resource-rich developing countries, fiscal policy has become a key tool used for short-run fiscal management since it is considered as playing a critical role in injecting part of resource rents into the economies. However, given its instability, reliance on revenue from commodity exports renders fiscal management, budgetary planning and the efficient use of public resources difficult. In this study, the linkage between commodity prices and fiscal operations among a sample of commodity-exporting countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is investigated. The main question is whether commodity price fluctuations affects the effectiveness of fiscal policy as a macroeconomic stabilization tool in these countries. Fiscal management effectiveness is considered as the ability of fiscal policy to react countercyclically to output gaps in the economy. Fiscal policy is measured as the ratio of fiscal deficit to GDP and the ratio of government spending to GDP, output gap is measured as a Hodrick-Prescott filter of output growth for each country, while commodity prices are associated with each country based on its main export commodity. Given the dynamic nature of fiscal policy effects on the economy overtime, a dynamic framework is devised for the empirical analysis. The panel cointegration and error correction methodology is used to explain the relationships. In particular, the study employs the panel ECM technique to trace short-term effects of commodity prices on fiscal management and also uses the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) technique to determine the long run relationships. These procedures provide sufficient estimation of the dynamic effects of commodity prices on fiscal policy. Data used cover the period 1992 to 2016 for 11 SSA countries. The study finds that the elasticity of the fiscal policy measures with respect to the output gap is significant and positive, suggesting that fiscal policy is actually procyclical among the countries in the sample. This implies that fiscal management for these countries follows the trend of economic performance. Moreover, it is found that fiscal policy has not performed well in delivering macroeconomic stabilization for these countries. The difficulty in applying fiscal stabilization measures is attributable to the unstable revenue inflows due to the highly volatile nature of commodity prices in the international market. For commodity-exporting countries in SSA to improve fiscal management, therefore, fiscal planning should be largely decoupled from commodity revenues, domestic revenue bases must be improved, and longer period perspectives in fiscal policy management are the critical suggestions in this study.

Keywords: commodity prices, ECM, fiscal policy, fiscal procyclicality, fully modified OLS, sub-saharan africa

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Authors: Hoda Ghorbani

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Today, many markets are matured and faced by a congested competition and amount of supply that is quite greater than demand. With respect to such modifications, organizations shall make themselves more equipped beforehand and ready to tackle with their rivals. In this regard, Relationship Marketing tries to lower the cost for attracting new customers by establishment and maintenance long run relations with the current customers and by which they try to increase corporative profitability. Consequently, identifying of relationship marketing and its effective factors is an essential element for maintenance of market and improvement of corporative competition potential. The present study deals with identifying the effective factors on marketing relationship in National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) from managers’ point of view. Methodology of this study is of descriptive- survey type. In addition to an extensive review on secondary sources and interview with experienced members in NIDC, researcher identified the related factors and distributed a questionnaire, including 31 questions, among 144 participants from corporative managers and first-rank principals. After gathering information, the related data have been analyzed by using binomial test as well as Binomial Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) of pair-wise comparisons. Study results showed that some variable like communication, commitment, Conflict Management and trust have affected on relationship marketing based on their order preference.

Keywords: marketing relationship, trust, commitment, communication, conflict management

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